The Veronicas

The Veronicas hail from Brisbane, Australia, where twin sisters Jess and Lisa Origliasso began working in show business at the age of five.

Born on Christmas Day in 1984, Jess and Lisa first performed as the Origliasso Twins, and their appearances at awards shows and sporting events drew the attention of agents and talent agencies.

As teenagers, the twins released three teen pop albums under the name Lisa & Jessica, and they began making forays into TV after landing recurring roles in the Australian children's series Cybergirl.

After Jess received a guitar as a birthday present in 2002, though, the girls started devoting more time to songwriting, gradually transforming their sound from pop to alternative rock in the process. With the help of two friends, the Origliasso twins formed a band, Teal, and released "Baby It's Over," a hooky single that made the twins sought-after songwriters.

After honing their chops by working with several different collaborators, the Origliassos signed a publishing deal and began contributing songs to a number of performers, including Australian Idol winner Casey Donovan, Japanese pop singer Miz, and the Russian group Tatu.

The girls were now focused on becoming internationally successful in their own right, and they moved to Los Angeles to try their hand in America.

After changing their name to the Veronicas and turning 20 years old, they landed a deal with Sire, an offshot of Warner Bros.

Records.

Sire released the Veronicas' full-length debut, The Secret Life Of..., in 2005.

Although an international release followed in early 2006, the album fared best in Australia, where it generated three Top Ten singles and eventually went quadruple platinum.

Hook Me Up followed in 2007, featuring a new wave-inspired sound and, once again, going multi-platinum in Australia.

The girls toured in support of both albums and documented one of their jaunts with a live album, Revenge Is Sweeter Tour, in early 2010.

~ David Jeffries, Rovi

Australian duo The Veronicas thought everyone was against them when they tried to crack the US.

(BANG) -

The Veronicas felt they were being "f**ked over" when they tried to make it in the US.

The Australian duo - made up of twin sisters Lisa and Jessica Origliasso - thought everyone was against them when they first signed to their US label.

Lisa said: "Suddenly, we were on the other side of the world. Our parents didn't come over, we didn't have any friends. All we had was this big record deal, and a lot of people would have lost the plot in that situation. We went through the whole process of people trying to f*** us over, tell us what to wear. And at the start, that was hard."

The 24-year-old siblings found it difficult to focus on their on their trademark electro-pop songs because record executives wanted them to develop an R'n'B undertone similar to 'Rehab' singer Rihanna.

Jessica explained: "We were being influenced by things such as electro-pop, which, at the time in America, was an underground thing - there was no Katy Perry or Lady Gaga at that point. But when we expressed a desire to do that, they were, like, 'No, no, we want to hook you up with the guy who did Rihanna's stuff.'

"It wasn't easy at all. We were told that none of our songs were hits, and they wouldn't get released in America. A couple of months after it was released as we wanted it, the biggest station in New York picked 'Untouched' up. And then it sold 1.5m downloads. That's embarrassing for them."